Carry load for PM9

Looking for recomendations for a carry load for the Kahr PM9. I’ve put over 1000 rounds of Winchester 115 gr ammo through it, as well as a couple of boxes of Silvertips. All and all it’s been reliable. Are the Silvertips a sufficient carry load? I believe they're 115 gr, but I don't have a box handy to check the specs.

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Preacherman

April 23, 2003, 12:03 AM

Given such a short barrel length, you want to get the velocity up as high as possible. I'd recommend a +P or +P+ load for this reason - personal preference would be either the Cor-Bon 115gr. JHP or the Federal 9BPLE load in the same bullet weight. Even out of your short barrel, either load should get over 1,100 fps.

FunYet

April 23, 2003, 11:48 PM

...went to a local shop today and asked for CorBon 115 gr +P in 9mm. Through the course of discussion the gun counter guy asked what gun I have. I told him a Kahr PM9, to which he replied (something like) ---Woa! You don't want to put anything that's +P through a Polymer Kahr. You should avoid CorBons in that gun all together. When I asked why he said it could "break" the gun. Uh, OK :confused: Never heard that one before, and I use CorBons. Maybe he though I asked for Bonbons and was afraid I'd clog the gun with nugget.

Anyway

Anyone ever hear of real problems with ANY +P in the PM9?

I'm also interested in comments on types and brands of +P that anyone out there has found reliable in the Kahr PM9 as far as feeding and function, or those that have not been reliable.

Now I'm heading for the safe to dispose of all those evil, plastic-gun-breaking CorBons that may cause my gun to spontaneously combust upon chambering. Whew...that was close :D

Thanks

WonderNine

April 24, 2003, 12:14 AM

You guys all seem to shoot 115gr. which I would not do. I'm strictly 124gr.-127gr. when it comes to 9mm.

I know you guys do it for extra velocity with the hope of getting some expansion, but IMO it's not really worth the extra noise. I'd shoot 124gr. NATO FMJ rounds through the Kahr like I do everything else.

Jeff OTMG

April 24, 2003, 01:16 AM

I like the new RBCD 9mm Tactical, over 2300 fps and over 600 fpe. All with a round nose proile and loaded to standard pressure.

incursion

April 24, 2003, 01:49 AM

Check out the new Pow 'R Ball that just started shipping from Corbon. It's a 100 gr. bullet at 1500FPS. If their .45ACP and .40S&W are any indications, then the 9mm version will be a winner for sure.

WonderNine

April 24, 2003, 01:56 AM

Jim, I've tried super high energy 9mm. (subgun ammo)

Hirtinberger and some Danish stuff. Both of those are so HIGH powered that they would not reliably work in any of my 9mm's.

The slide would cycle so fast that the shell would not chamber correctly alot of the time....or not at all.

The people I was shooting it next to thought I was shooting really hot .357 or really hot .40.

And the Hirtinbergers also had primer problems. The primer was inset into the case and once in about ten rounds one would not go off.

NOT SOMETHING I WOULD WANT TO USE AS A CARRY LOAD!

The hottest carry load I'll ever use (and they are my favorites) are 9mm NATO and 9mm +P+ Ranger 127gr.

tomkatz

April 24, 2003, 02:26 AM

I have spoken to kahr directly about +p ammo in the polymer guns, they have told me the polymer guns are rated to shoot the same ammo as the all steel kahrs, so it is a go on the +p. They recommend changing the recoil spring every 1000 rds....tom

ps...I shoot the cor-bon 115gr. with good results in mine

FunYet

April 24, 2003, 09:44 PM

In my PM9, today I tried some CoreBon 115gr +P and some 124 gr Speer Gold dot +P. Both presented feeding problems; they'd run into the feed ramp and stop dead rather than feed up the ramp into the chamber. Winchester ball ammo (115 gr) continued to feed with no problem, so did 115 gr Silvertips. The feed problems were fairly consistant, though I did mange to get them to feed once in a while. I realize this is probably specific to my gun, but thought it's worth mentioning. I guess I'll just stick with the Silvertips.

euclid

April 24, 2003, 09:52 PM

The standard 124 grain Speer Gold Dots feed well in my P9 Covert, are very controlable and will ventilate a BG as well as any +P+++P++PP++P++ ammo out there, in my opinion.

poof...

Preacherman

April 24, 2003, 11:00 PM

FunYet, try a heavier recoil spring to slow down the slide velocity. This should cure the problem if the feed ramp is OK. If the latter is a bit rough, polish it up while you're at it.

gbelleh

April 24, 2003, 11:26 PM

I've never had a problem with standard pressure Speer Gold Dot 124 gr.

I haven't fired any +p in mine yet. I would be comfortable carrying the standard pressure 124 Gold Dots. They are accurate and my gun feeds them well.

cratz2

April 25, 2003, 12:26 AM

I prefer a 124 or 127 Gr bullet in the 9mm. As of right now, I've put 250 rounds of the re-classified Gold Dots through my used Kahr P9 Covert... 124 +Ps. And 300 rounds of S&B ball. Once I get another 200 rounds of the Gold Dots through there, I'll probably slow down and start just shooting off two mags of carry ammo once a month or so. But my gun is in one piece.

I got to using the 115 Gr stuff (White Box) through my Taurus when I was shooting it a lot. I could shoot it noticably quicker while maintaining some semblance of accuracy. But I mostly shot 124 gr stuff through it as well.

I don't have anything against the SilverTips but they wouldn't be my first choice nor would HydraShoks or the Federal Personal Defense. I prefer the Gold Dots, Rangers (if you have access to them) and Golden Sabers.

Nothing wrong with the CorBons either, I just can't get them as economically as I can the Gold Dots or Golden Sabers. Matter of fact, my 'safe gun' that is the gun that I always keep loaded in my safe... just in case, is loaded with 115 Gr +P CorBons. Friend of mine had an accidental/negligent/unintentional discharge using these and it completely broke up in about 1.5" of wood flooring. Short of Glasers which I don't really like in a pistol, I think the lighter CorBons would be the least likely to make it through the more solid portion of a wall and retain significant energy. Not sure I want that in an outdoors gun, but for a gun mostly likely to be used inside, I like it. Our official designated house gun is a 686 with 4 rounds of blue Glasers and 2 rounds of 158 Gr LSWC, skull damage rounds I call them, again, just in case. :p

mini14jac

April 25, 2003, 08:11 AM

My PM9 also fed the Gold Dot +P 124gr ok, but the recoil was too snappy for me.
I felt that second shot follow up times would be too slow.
(I've heard that you don't develop enough velocity in a short barrel to take advantage of +P ammo. Anybody know the straight dope on that?)

I like Winchester "Personal Protection" jhp from Walmart.
I think it is 115gr, and if you do a search, you will find some chronograph data on it.
It is loaded a little hotter than standard pressure ammo, but is much cheaper than HydraShoks, Corbon, etc.
My Kahr runs fine on them, and I can afford to practice a lot!

coorsleftfield

May 5, 2003, 03:05 PM

I fired a box of the Federal classic
115 gr "hi-shok" +p+ ammo out of my pm9 across a chronograph. This is the ammo labeled law enforcement only, and comes in a 50 round box..

Anyway, out of the 2" barrel, I only got
1100 feet/sec. I'm bought some
124gr pro-load +p with gold-dots, supposed to be really good ammo. Going to fire that across the chronograph and
see what the numbers come out to be. I'm wondering if a slightly heavier bullet would actually be better out of such a short barrel.

Snowdog

May 5, 2003, 03:39 PM

Georgia Arms Shear Power Plus 115gr +P+ Gold Dots.

Why? They're quality constructed, accurate in my K9, high velocity and hold together despite their speed. Oh, and they offer nice'n'pretty picture-book expansion when others don't.
( :D... that's important to me)

I had been shooting the Winchester 115gr "Personal Protection" ammo, as stated above, but since I bought a bunch of the Gold Dot, +P, 124gr ammo for my P95, I thought I would give it another shot in my PM9.

I shot 6 rounds of the Winchester from 25yds, modified Weaver stance, slow fire, at a B27r target.
Then I shot 6 rounds of the Gold Dots.
With the Winchester, I got 3 out of 5 in "stopping zones" 2 winged arms or legs.
With the Gold Dots, all were in the com area, and I had 1 in the "X" ring. :eek:

I stated above that the recoil was a little "snappy" with the +P, but since I had been shooting a Airweight S&W, and a .45, it didn't seem that bad.
(The gun does leave a nice "waffle" print in the palm of my hand though.)
I think the Gold Dots will be my carry ammo now.

So I shot this proload 124gr +p and
the Kahr was really jamming up on it.

I'm thinking that the stock recoil spring
may be too light for this ammo, because
what appeared to be happening was that the slide was bouncing off the back stop, and catching the spent brass before it
had ejected from the gun. It was a very
consistant failure.

I'm having some feeding problems with 115gr ammo too, mosty stovepipe kind of failures. Before this goes back to Kahr, I'm going to shoot it again, and make
darn sure I'm not limp wristing it, since I know it's easy to do with a pm9. Sometimes the gun does not stay open after firing the last round, which makes me thing the slide is not traveling all the way back, thus, I'm limp wristing it.

To get back on topic, I chronographed the 124gr +p proload, the kahr pm9
pushes it about 1100 feet/sec. So this stuff is "hotter" than the 115gr +p+ I shot which was also going 1100 f/s.

David Park

May 6, 2003, 10:31 AM

I took my brand new PM9 to the range last night and ran a bunch of ammo through it. I don't have my notes, but here's what I remember:

Speer Gold Dot 124gr +P: the top round would tip down when the magazine was inserted, making it a challenge to chamber the first round (using the slide release rather than "slingshotting" the slide seemed to help), but once chambered they worked OK. This seems like a problem with the magazine more than the gun.

Hydra-Shok 147gr: no major problems if I remember correctly.

Hydra-Shok PDA 135gr: HUGE blast and muzzle flash, not very accurate (possibly because I was blind after the first shot), but no reliability problems. I think Federal's philosophy with their PDA ammo is "even if you miss, you'll scare the other guy to death." :scrutiny:

I also shot 100 rds of Win. white box 115gr which was reliable and very accurate. Not having been to the range in *mumble* months, I was surprised at some of my groups. :) I still need to try some Golden Sabers, Federal EFMJ, and maybe Pow 'R Ball, but I'm not giving up on the Gold Dots yet either. I'll see how the PM9 runs after some serious cleaning and lubrication.

Marcus

May 6, 2003, 09:28 PM

I tried out a relative`s new PM9 a few weeks ago. It`s a neat little gun but has LOTS of muzzle flip with +Ps (and I`m an avid 10mm shooter). Accuracy and speed in rapid fire were less than stellar with 124gr.GDHP+Ps and 115gr. Corbons. Worse than that it jammed twice per box with each. It`s 100% with ball and some other JHP loads. My recomendation was to go with good ol 115gr. Silvertips. It feeds them well,accuracy and speed of rapid fire are much better and if anything will expand at low velocity a Silvertip should. Plus they`re cheap so he can practice with them a lot more. FWIW I have nothing against the 124gr+P GDHPS of 115gr. Corbons,I carry the first in my CZ-75B and the other in my Keltec which shoots about the same for me with standard or +Ps. Marcus

coorsleftfield

May 7, 2003, 12:31 AM

I believe I've been limp wristing my pm9 alright, I shot it again tonight and had much better luck just shooting winchester white box stuff from walmart. Seems like you really have to have a locked up wrist to shoot the light pm9. It stovepipes on me , usually on the last round if I'm not holding it really solid. I wonder if this is something that will improve as the gun continues to break in, or something I should let Kahr look at.. everytime out to the range, it's getting more reliable, so I guess I'll keep shooting it..

mini14jac

May 7, 2003, 08:25 AM

The first time I took my PM9 to the range, I tried the Gold Dot +P ammo, and thought, "There's no way I could carry this stuff for defense.".
Now, after about 500rds, when I tried it again, the flip didn't bother me at all, and the accuracy was awesome.

I think, in my case, I just needed to get more familiar with the gun.
The more I shoot it, the better I shoot it.
(And the more I like it.)

David Park,
You mention shooting 100rds of Winchester, in addition to some other rounds.
I have done that with my PM9 also.
To me, that says volumes about the shootability of this little gun.
I took my wife's Airweight to the range Sunday, and my hand is still a little tender from 25 rounds that I put through it. :uhoh:

The PM9 is an amazing little gun!

David Park

May 7, 2003, 03:31 PM

mini14jac, I shot about 225 rounds total through the PM9, just trying to burn through some ammo to break in the gun. The Win. white box was very pleasant to shoot, with almost zero muzzle flip (a big change from my Sig P239 with its relatively high bore axis). The box of CorBons and other +P rounds were rough on my hands (the checkered plastic could probably use a little sandpaper, or maybe an Agrip), but I didn't get any blisters.

I definitely think the gun requires a firm grip to run properly. The 7-round magazine helped a bit with the CorBons, just by providing more to hold onto and keep the muzzle down. I think this may be one reason the all-steel Kahrs seem to be more reliable: they are able to soak up more recoil and are less susceptible to limp-wristing and other operator errors. I need to start doing grip exercises again. :)

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